


The Horror Turned Around

by Skyclaw_Eallec



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Reapers, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:36:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22412578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyclaw_Eallec/pseuds/Skyclaw_Eallec
Summary: With the First Contact War raging on, Commander Iria Shepard leads one squad in defense of a colony when a ceasefire is called.There will be Shakarian eventually.(A basic summary, but I don't want to explain anymore than what I want to. I'll add more tags when I figure this site out.)
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian, Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Kudos: 14





	1. There's No Place Like This

She fired the last bullet from her rifle, the cacophony erupting across the battered and empty buildings of the colony, finding its mark into a turian’s shoulder. ‘Damn,’ she thought, as the bird wouldn’t be too fazed by it.

The shots from her squadmates all slowly cut off one by one, and those with biotics were beginning to slump behind cover, exhausted from the long battle and the seemingly never-ending waves of turian fire coming towards them. 

“Lola, you have any ideas?!” A voice crackled between the interference on her comm.

A blast just on the other side of the colony’s defensive wall shook the very dirt and buildings before she even responded. The turians were getting bold, but they weren’t down yet. She used her Omnitool to fire up the drones that laid down some measure of cover fire for those closer to the wall.

“Everyone, retreat to the colony’s centre. Resupply and rest,” she ordered through the comm. She slung her sniper rifle over her left shoulder onto the mag lock and she made her way down the buildings to the centre. When she made it there, another Commander sent their squad out to continue the defence.

Eventually, her squadmates were filed in and nearly collapsed out of pure exhaustion. She counted the heads that were there, seeing all that have survived thus far accounted for. Well, all Alliance personnel, since there was a mercenary still out there that higher-ups attached to her. 

She removed the helmet, thankful to be free of its constraints and allowing her shoulder-length brown hair to fall and the sun on this backwater planet to touch her light toned skin. One of her squadmates, another woman with raven black hair, sat next to her. She heard the continued suppressing fire done by the other squad for the defence.

"Got any ideas cooking, Shep?" she asked.

Shepard turned her head to the other woman, smirking devilishly, "Oh, maybe some explosions with a side of turian, Ash," she responded.

Ash laughed at her commanding officer’s answer, “Sounds perfect, Skipper. When is it coming?”

Shepard heard another set of footsteps coming their way, where a male figure in mismatching coloured armour walking their way, the Recon Hood he wore had a stylised skull wrapping around the Hood. She raised a hand in greeting towards the figure, to which the response was a single lazy wave with the hand that wasn’t resting on the sword on the hip. Why he had a sword was beyond her, and beyond the rest of the personnel. Didn’t help that he never told why.

Shepard stood up from her position and walked up to the figure, both of them stopping eye to eye and staring each other down.

“Yes, Shepard?” he asked, cracking his knuckles.

“I need you to commit another sabotage, Thanatos,” Shepard answered, using the name that she was given for this particular merc.

She felt the stare he had on her change to one that was asking if she was stupid. 

“No,” was the merc’s deadpan response.

When he tried to shove past her, the Commander gripped the edge of the merc’s plate and pushed him back in front of her, “You’re going to do it, and that’s final.”

“Sixth time’s unlucky, lass.”

“You’re going to do it, and that’s final. Or we’re going to die by your dumb superstition.”

Thanatos’ shoulders rose and fell, in a way that anyone would huff normally. “Fine. Just this once, though. I’ll check the charges, and I’ll do it tonight.”

It was then that Thanatos moved past Shepard towards a bunch of sleeping mats and moved his Recon Hood up just enough so that the lower half of his face was seen briefly before he covered his face with an arm.

The rest of the squad left him to rest. They experienced the reason why from Alenko trying to keep him awake and the Lieutenant was swept off his feet, after which they never tried to interrupt his rest again.

"Commander Shepard! Get your squad up here now! The birds are making a big push!" the other commander shouted through the comm.

Shepard lifted her fingers to the comm in her ear, "We'll be right there," she responded, staying calm. She stood up and picked up her helmet, "Alright! Break's over! Grab a few sinks and move it!"

"Ma'am!" was the overwhelming response, and they all followed her orders quickly and efficiently, just how she likes it.

~ ~ ~

The humans have held out for months, now. The squishy galactic newcomers have fought over this planet, where the colonists have been evacuated long ago.

He looked through the scope of his rifle, spotting the other group of humans running back to the defence, with the leader that he's kept his eye on, her own sniper rifle held in her spindly arms, her armour a shade of dark brown with golden highlights. She looked through her scope and a shot rang out across the no man's land, landing a hit on the upper chest of a corporal, forcing the kid off his feet and blue blood being sprayed out, but the nearby medic managed to get to him and began dragging him to safety.

He had a perfect shot between the hole the humans carved out of the colony wall to fire out of.

"Vakarian!"

He pulled his eye away from the scope and looked to the one who called. A turian with dark plates with white colony markings looked up towards him. Vakarian descended from his perch and stood in front of the other turian, giving him a salute.

"General,” he responded plainly. Better to play it safe, for now. He’s a bad enough turian as is, right now.

“Rest up, Lieutenant. You’re on watch tonight. I’m certain that the humans are going to try something tonight.”

The sharpshooter thought for a few seconds, “There was one human missing when their small reinforcements came, sir,” he reported, confirming the General’s suspicions.

The General placed a three fingered hand on his shoulder, “Speak freely, Garrus.”

“You ruined a shot, Victus. You owe me a beer, and make sure there’s no fraternization tonight,” Garrus replied, taking a more casual stance, crossing his arms and cocking his head to one side.

Victus chuckled and slapped an unprotected part of Garrus’ upper arm, “I won’t. No promises about the Privates,” he joked.

Garrus laughed, giving Victus a half-hearted salute and slipped past the General towards his sleeping quarters, having his own private room in the pre-fab unit that was set up. He placed his sniper rifle on the workbench and laid down in the cot he had in there. It was all he needed.


	2. Night Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sabotage commences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was a rough one to complete, so it may not be to the standard that I've set myself. Hopefully, it'll only get better from here.

Garrus unhooked his modified rifle from the magnetic lock on his back and settled into his favourite perch, which allowed him a pretty good overview of the base and of the no man’s land between the camp and the colony wall. He flicked on the night vision and looked through the scope, seeing two small glints over in the colony, only for the caged pyjaks to slink into cover before he can make the shot. 

He removed his eye from the scope and loudly groaned, taking effort to not audibly curse his luck. Garrus looked through the scope once again, continuing his lookout across the no man’s land.

~ ~ ~

“Archangel’s on lookout,” he heard Shepard inform him.

Thanatos looked through his own rifle scope, seeing that it was indeed Archangel in the birds’ camp. The gaze of the scope turned around to the two of them, prompting both the humans to duck behind the meager cover they had.

“I’m putting my neck out on the line for this unlucky sabotage, Shepard. This better be worth it,” Thanatos explained, leaving the rifle snatching up the three charges he had left and went down the stairs from the building they were in.

Making sure that he wasn’t able to be seen by Archangel, Thanatos managed to sneak his way across the colony, using cover at every available opportunity, and using the hood to sometimes hide the obvious skull on his mask.

“Hold up. Archangel’s sweeping back,” the Commander’s voice rang into his ear.

Thanatos growled, but followed the order implied within the information, staying put where he was until he knew he was safe to run.

“Go,” was the order he needed, and so he did, moving from the uncomfortable crouch he was in to dash towards the wall of a prefab unit.

He made it to the outer wall of the colony, taking a running leap onto the upper part of the barricade they set up and slid over the top. He took off in the route he’s taken 5 times prior, which was odd considering the birds always failing to plug that leak.

It was a long trek, about an hour at most to reach the outskirts of the turians’ camp, seeing that the patrols that made rounds were bright-eyed and awake. Cursing to himself quietly for this stroke of shit luck, he waited for the moment between the two patrollers and snuck up to the wall, pressing his back hard against the cold metal face. He knew of a hole that the turians didn’t patch up, and that he’s been filing away at to allow him to infiltrate the camp better. Five times out, of course.

Thanatos squeezed into the gap, and he looked out into the dark camp, thinking on what his limited charges could send up in a nice explosion. He saw 2 tanks and the fuel silo.

'Perfect,' he thought, smirking evilly.

His toes kicked a small pebble a tiny distance, so he slid out of the gap and picked the pebble up. He slowly trudged up to the nearest building which he assumed to be a sleeping quarters of sorts, judging by the odd sounds of sex that he heard through the walls on his second saboteur soiree here.

He came to the corner of the prefab unit, seeing his objective in the open. That'll be a problem, considering that Archangel was on watch.

Thanatos looked at the pebble in his palm, chucking up barely a few centimetres to test out its flight properties. He slowly leant out, seeing Archangel on his perch, spotting out into the no man's land. Thanatos took aim, and threw the pebble…

~ ~ ~

Garrus felt something hit the left side of his helmet, knocking his sight out his scope a little bit. He spun quickly to the left, sighting down the side of the barracks.

There, he waited with the patience that only a sniper could be capable of.

He saw something odd with the dirt around the far corner of the barracks, zooming in on the details. A footprint and scuff marks, but not of a turian foot. 

A human was in the camp.

He'd have to give Victus a bottle of the best Turian Whiskey soon.

He spotted a human's head poke out a tiny bit, seeing 2 oval black lights in a white skull, all inside a hood like the quarians sometimes wear on the outside of their suits, look his way before diving back behind the barracks' wall before he could take the shot.

'So this is the saboteur the humans have. Someone with a flair for the dramatic,' Garrus thought, giving his thought a small laugh before resuming his vigil over the barracks edge.

In fact, a certain way would be much more interesting

~ ~ ~

Thanatos was mouthing the word 'fuck' at about twice a second. This is why he doesn't do anything a sixth time. The important bits are bound to go belly up.

He looked out the tiniest smidge to know if Archangel was looking his way. The glint of the scope pointing his way told him exactly what he needed to know.

'Fucking hell, Shepard. Why'd you drag me to do this?' he thought.

He looked over to his objective, while it was in the open, all he needed was a few seconds to run.

Counting to 3, he sprang forth from the cover he was in, holding on to hope that he wouldn't get shot on his way there. A shot boomed and the bullet whizzed past Thanatos’ eyes and impacted the dirt. Thanatos skidded to a halt and looked at Archangel, seeing his Omnitool light up around his wrist. He dove under the nearest tank and took out a charge, beginning the quick process of setting it up.

~ ~ ~

Garrus watched the human dive under the tank, so no wonder that they couldn't find the explosives.

He took another shot when the human poked his head out from under the tank, aiming just next to his head. Normally, he wouldn't do this, but he felt quite playful now. A few of the unlucky turians that were on patrol looked his way.

"Vakarian, why are you shooting?" he heard a feminine voice ask over his comm.

He looked out of his scope, looking at the Cabal Lieutenant that was assigned to Victus' command. With the humans using extensive biotics, Victus requested that he acquire at least one team of Cabals to reinforce them.

He only got 4 Cabals, with Cabal Lieutenant Aciltis leading the small team. They were mainly relegated by Victus as shock troopers, but they haven't had any form of action yet. "Too few numbers" was his main reason.

Garrus lifted a finger up to the comm receptacle on his helmet, "There's a human in the camp. Just toying with it," he responded.

"Varren pup," the Cabal Lieutenant replied, with Garrus noting the joking undertone in her sub vocals.

"Caelus wouldn't believe me when I tell him this," Garrus finished, talking about the historian that was attached to this company, "Standby, Aciltis. We're going to get this saboteur."

The sarcastic sigh over the comm was all the confirmation he needed. He bore no ill will towards the Cabals, just as long as they don’t interfere with his work. He looked through the scope once more seeing the human’s head poke out of the underside.

“Just like pyjaks,” he thought, smirking.

~ ~ ~

Thanatos was whispering a string of curses at such a rate to make those sailors blush at his luck on this mission. 

‘I should have quit when I was ahead,’ he thought, pulling his head back under the tank he was under.

He managed to dive out and slide under the other tank, setting up the explosive charge, which could only be activated by his fingerprint only. He had the detonator on him, which was currently unprimed.

Archangel would be aiming for him from the side closest to the fuel silo, so Thanatos slid out from between the wheels and used the tank itself as cover, even though those two shots would’ve been cause for serious concern, so he needs to act fast and there’s no time like the present.

He dashed out from his cover, keeping his head low while he moved to behind the silo. He never heard a shot boom out from the powerful rifle that Archangel uses.

He hastily set up the explosive, primed the detonator, placing it back into its secure spot, and just decided to run back to where he squeezed in through, but his dash was hampered by the patrols now actively shooting at him.

Catching a few bullets on his shields and some clipping his armour and ripping his hood to shreds, he managed to quickly squeeze his way through the gap.

He couldn't care about subtlety now and was just running across the no man's land, his lungs burning from both the effort and the crappy recycled air that he's breathing in his mask.

He felt a massive blow instantly knock his shields out, and he suddenly felt weightless and he was lifted up from the ground.

"Fuck!" Thanatos screamed, knowing just how much in a pickle he is.

He felt Archangel line up a shot to the back of his head. He waited until that feeling reached its peak when he threw his body weight around, the bullet hitting the right side of his chest and subsequently getting launched out of the biotic pull. He swore he heard a few bones crack as he slammed onto the dirt.

He couldn't move, but he fished out the detonator from where he kept it and pushed the button, the night sky being illuminated by a mushroom cloud of fire.

~ ~ ~

Garrus finally took the shot on the saboteur, but the explosion of their heavy support vehicles would put him in bad graces with Victus.

He saw another figure run into the no man's land, a human female who picked up the saboteur. He was tempted to shoot her, but something made him not pull the trigger.

He then realised that it was the Tree of Elysium, called that because of the brown armour and her standing against the storm of the turian assault on Elysium.

Garrus lowered the rifle scope from his eye and reached up to the comm.

"Aciltis, are you able to detonate a path into the human's colony?"

He heard a laugh come from over the comm.

"The General would need to approve, but we Cabals certainly can."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you've enjoyed. Anything would be greatly appreciated, even just reading this.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. Any comments/kudos will be appreciated.


End file.
